Capturing the Perfect Proposal Moment

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When a lot of the really big life moments are happening, we’re often too busy living them to find a way to document them for later. Who wants to be fumbling with a camera when you’re trying to say something important? But maybe there is an option that lets you capture the precious moments without having to worry about manning your camera at the same time…

Mike Bons, probably our favourite Triggertrap wildlife photographer, certainly found the perfect way to incorporate his love of photography into an awfully important moment: the moment he proposed to his darling girlfriend. Of all of the creative and exciting uses of Triggertrap, this has to be one of the best. It’s certainly the most heartwarming tale our kit has ever been involved in. Mike Bons, congratulations sir! Here’s how the old romantic decided to propose.

A Very Happy Valentine’s Day

“Erin and I have been together for five and a half years, and over that time we have taken very few pictures of us together. I guess it’s because as photographers we are always behind the camera, and most of us photographers likely prefer it that way. So after purchasing the ring I tried to devise a plan of how I could capture the proposal on camera but keep it a complete surprise.”

“I also wanted to capture the moment in a very genuine way. So after a photo session a few weeks ago I suggested to her that we need to get a couple of pictures of just the two of us, and of course she was all for it. I had decided that Valentine’s Day would be the day! We drove down to Meyer’s Pier, in Belleville, Ontario. I knew I wanted a backlit shot but didn’t know exactly how I was going to do it or what lighting I was going to use. However as I pulled up in our vehicle the whole plan came together: I would use the headlights from the vehicle as the backlighting. Erin was still under the assumption that this was just a regular posed shot of the two of us!”

D’aww! So what was your camera set up?

“For the image I used a Canon 6D, and a Canon 70-200 F/2.8 IS lens. The lens was set at 175mm and the camera was in manual at a shutter speed of 1/80, F/3.2, ISO 3200, manually focused at the particular point where we would be standing. I wanted the DoF of 175mm at F/3.2 but I also wanted a wider field of view. To do this I shot the several images in a panoramic type fashion. I then returned the lens to the middle, where we would be standing. I hooked up Triggertrap Mobile and put it in Timelapse mode and set it to take a picture every second. This allowed me to choose from a number of images so that I was able to choose just the perfect moment.”

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The Proposal

“I motioned for Erin to get out of the vehicle, as it was a cold evening. I met her at the point that I had picked where the camera was focused and got down on a knee and proposed. Thankfully, she said YES!!”

The Final Image

“I then selected my favourite moment that the camera and Triggertrap had captured along with the other (panoramic) images and stitched them together in a software program.”

Well we don’t know about you guys, but we think this is a perfect way to bring together the thing you love doing with the people and moments that matter. Time-lapse doesn’t always have to make interesting videos; with a little imagination any photography technique can become so much more. For more of Mike Bons’ photography, check out his website and Facebook.


About the Author: Helena Vieira is Head of Happiness and inspiration hunter at Triggertrap, a photography tech start-up providing creative ways of triggering your camera. This article originally appeared here.

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